There's lots of ways water can get into your boat when you're out paddling. Playboats be they plastic or carbon or whatever are more often than not tested in fresh water locations and because salt water is slightly more dense than fresh water your boat is subject to greater pressures even when you're out in the most mediocre of waves than on your normal river paddle. Add to that the weight of water in big breaking waves and you're looking at serious pressures and in an already flawed system the best combination of gear won't keep that water out. You don't want to end up swimming in big surf with your ability to swim out of trouble quickly restricted by having to wear a bulky buoyancy aid and deck. You also don't want to have to open your deck to sponge out water for fear a wave creeps up quickly on you when you're not looking. So how could the current system possibly be improved?
Firstly Boats!
The last number of playboats I've owned (Necky Chronic & Orbitfish, LiquidLogic Spacecadet and Wavesport Project) have been riddled with holes between outside and inside of the boat. Grab handle, seat pillar and thigh brace bolts all leak water even if just a tiny amount it all adds up and no amount of changing washers and waxing or taping over bolts solves the obvious problem. The Jackson Kayak system goes a long way to resolving the issue and hopefully other companies can adopt a similar solution soon, not that the Jacksons are without its own internal outfitting issues but it keeps the water out.
Gear, the double bell system.
The cag, deck connection, I've never had a cagdeck but I've also not seen a good one. Most cagdecks in their design seem to admit that water is likely to get in any way or that they are not likely to be used in cold water locations. I've yet to find one that affords all the benefits of a separate cag and deck setup, outer neoprene gasket covers at the neck and wrists, more than one layer of material for warmth, well taped and glued seams on the cag and deck, combined with a bomber deck. None one seems to be interested in going all out on a piece of gear. You'll probably have to wait till a good deck and cag manufacturer come together to solve the problem. The problem with the separate pieces of gear is exactly the problem the cagdeck was created to solve I presume. When there is enough pressure caused by water outside wanting to get in and air inside wanting to get out the system fails and for me its always been at the double bell thats failed over neck or wrist seals. Usually when your upside down in surf you feel the deck waist tunnel flap as the exchange takes place and a fart sound is usually evidence that some air has passed out making the waist tunnel material flap rapidly and as the air escaped water has come in somewhere.
The boat-deck connection.
Again at one point I'm sure boat and deck manufacturers worked together to come up with the system of cockpit sizes but again it seems the connection has been lost, probably as a result of small manufacturers being bought out by big business and no deck is as snug or leak free as it might be. A new product only launched recently by BomberGear is trying to solve a problem that shouldn't exist. Its a good idea and fair play to the guys for coming up with something new and simple. Here's their video from YouTube....
So how might we go about solving these problems using existing technology?
Well how about kayak companies mould in the same pressure valves used in Peli™ cases into their boats. The valves are breathable and allow air to move in and out while stopping water from getting in. This combined with a good deck with a solid and broad contact surface between deck and cockpit rim would allow the water ouside the boat to put the pressure on the boats outer surface, air would escape by the easiest route possible without allowing water to enter. The boat contains the biggest volume of air and the impact on your gear is minimal as long as you haven't inflated your cag to make yourself look like the Michelin Man!
Wearing a deck with an implosion bar will limit the amount of pressure put on the air inside the boat to escape and then the flex in the material of the boat itself is all the that would have to be allowed for. The valves seem to work successfully in Peli™ cases, so why not adopt the same principle in kayaks?
There are probably obvious problems with plastic compatibility between the material used in the valves and that used in different boats but surely thats fixable? Well what ever the other possible problems are, if kayaks companies continue to claim to have invested years in developing each new playboat that comes out and still coming up with very little thats new then whats all the fuss about? All the craze currently seems to be around the carbon fibre revolution with lots of companies producing models of their latest plastic boats in carbon and others purely embracing the carbon format yet any noticeable achievements have yet to be made from it, a plastic Jackson boat devastated the last world championships, will a carbon one win in Platting next year or a GuiGui -Prod or Vajda even or will it still only be down to the best paddler? Only time will tell.
Next up on the blog a short book review of Alastair Mennie's book Surfing Mennie Waves.
